Ethnic tensions continue in China´s Xinjiang region

Over the weekend, the Chinese government admitted that police killed 12 people during ethnic riots in the northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region earlier this month. At least 197 people are believed to have died in Xinjiang after protests by the indigenous Uighur people turned violent.

China recently promised to double compensation for the victims´ families, paying them some $60,000 for each fatality.  The government says the majority of the victims were Han, the ethnic group which makes up most of China´s population.  But Uighur groups counter those claims, saying hundreds of their people were killed.

Xinjiang has long been a tightly controlled hotbed of ethnic tensions, fostered by an economic gap between Uighurs and Han Chinese, as well as government control over the Uighur's culture and religion.  FSRN reporter Daniel Bastard, visited the regional capital of Urumqi.